


PMD: A Super Dandy Adventure

by StarQuasar



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Joe curses as he breathes, M/M, Might be some blood since fights can be brutal, Pokemon Battles, Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon Canon Stuff, Self-Insert OC, Sexual Humor, Swearing, Totodile is here to win and leave no survivors, innuendos
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-18 19:07:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28748184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarQuasar/pseuds/StarQuasar
Summary: The world of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon always leaves a lot more questions and answers. That's because it's a catbox where multiple truths exist simultaneously since no one observed the actual event, and others can only speculate what happened. However, there is one witness that survived these games of this world and harbors the sole truth. Well, one of them, he's going through the second one now. He will show them all that he's not a human to be messed with. And he's not a kid, so stop calling him that!
Comments: 9
Kudos: 14





	1. Don't make deals with Outer Entities

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, everyone! This is my first time ever writing a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon fic and more of me testing the waters here by doing a one-shot here. 
> 
> Who knows. I might continue this story more since a friend of mine has been helping me on the inspiration side of things on how I want to do this later on. 
> 
> Some of you may have come from fanfic to see this here. So welcome!
> 
> But for now, just sit back and please enjoy!

A dragon's roar shook the palace walls, causing the reptile to run as fast as his little legs could through the ice made hallways. 

"Fuck that! I'm way too under level for this shit!" he shouted between breaths. His only goal in mind was to get as far as possible from the ice dragon that dwelled in the dungeon. "Whose bright idea was to throw a starter at fucking Kyurem!?" 

It didn't help that he got into an argument with the legendary about how stupid its plans were in protecting a specific future where the world ENDS. Like, who in their right mind would allow that to happen even when having the aforementioned knowledge about an entity coming to do the job? A hermit dragon called Kyurem, that's who! 

When Joe pointed out how stupid the Boundary Pokemon's plan was from start to finish, the ice dragon wasn’t amused at all.

So, this leaves him with the only option available to him. Run. 

Honestly, he shouldn't have listened to the Hydreigon from earlier about doing the right thing and saving the world... Yeah, that was stupid of him, and he was even cursing himself out for not thinking ahead there, instead he just went with the flow. 

Spotting one of the cryogonal lackeys down his path, he channeled some of his remaining power into his claws until they took a silver glint. "Get out of my way!" 

The snowflake didn't even get a chance to respond as the totodile pounced on it and drove his claws into the ice before dragging it straight up. Metal Claw damaging the Cryagonal quite heavily as cracks formed on its body and fell on to the ground in defeat. 

Joe panted from the attack but still pressed forward. "Stairs! Stairs! Stairs!" Survival was his only goal now. Finding the exit to this cursed Glacier Palace has proven more annoying than anything. He already made it down quite a few floors away from Kyurem, but that means nothing if he doesn't leave the place. "I'll even take a window!" he shouted. 

Sure, it might sound stupid, considering the Glacier Palace is a floating dungeon in the air. Still, Joe bets he can survive the fall since pokemon bodies are meant to be sturdy and survived worse.

That and it beats staying in a place full of pokemon serving Kyurem. 

A zorua turned around the corner, and he hated the black fox with a passion since it trapped him in an illusion earlier on when he was climbing up. He quickly covered the distance, and a well-aimed kick to the head was enough to fell the pokemon—that and the wall that now has a crater in it.

Joe moved past it. 

He yelped as his foot slipped on the ice and sent him sliding down the hallway. With no way to reorient himself with such small arms of a totodile, his face met the floor. 

"Oww...." He held his snout. It was throbbing in his hands, and touching it was painful for his exhausted body. Joe gave the room a look around, noticing it was just a dead end. "Well, I guess now is a better time than any to heal." 

Joe grabbed his satchel and turned it upside to dump its content. 

His bag was pitiful, to begin with—barely anything inside it after being inside this dungeon for a while, going both up and down. 

The journey exhausted most of the supplies he collected on the trip here. 

So far, he had a few oran berries, cash that was lying on the floor for some reason, some cloth that kept him warm, and orbs.

Food was currently on his mind since this whole saving the world business was a lot of work. Oran berries were quickly shoved into his mouth as he inspected anything else he had that could help. 

The orbs are a gamble since he knows that they can have varying effects, but telling them apart was difficult for a newbie like him. It's not like the games at all where you can see the names and use them appropriately. 

"They could be my way out of here," Joe said. One of them could be an Escape Orb. That would be a lifesaver, but he doesn't know if he picked one up or not. If it were something like a Petrify or Totter, then it would be a waste. "Also, the cards...." 

There, looking at him was the entercards given to him by Hydreigon. It was how he got up here in the first place. Though, using them away from the original gate opening and in a dungeon is dangerous to consider. 

Another piercing roar shook the palace, and it felt a lot more closer to him now, judging by how powerful it was from earlier. 

"Great, he left his throne room and is coming to kill me himself. Fuck my life." With options limited and an instant death boss roaming around the place, he might as well try. "I should be close to the entrance anyway, so maybe it will work." 

However, the problem here is that Joe didn’t exactly remember how to use them. He had help from the Hydreigon earlier, who already had a pattern set and magnagate ready with Glacier Palace as the destination. Now, the totodile is all alone and has to figure out which cards to use to get out of here. 

"Alright, remember what he told you." He smacked himself in the face a few times to jog his memory. "I'm basically manipulating ley lines with the card patterns to make a route to my destination. Alright, now how does that help me... ah, fuck it. Brute force it!" 

He grabbed the entercard panel that also fell out of his bag and slotted in whatever combination that could open a magnagate. 

"Full moon, crescent moon, sun, squiggly sun?" 

Nothing. 

"Let's try three sun cards and a moon, then." 

Nothing. 

He pulled the pokemon type set of entercards. "Water, ground, fire, and flying? C'mon Avatar, don't fail me now." 

Joe's eye twitched at his third try being a failure. 

"I'm going to kill whoever designed this interface. They couldn't even bother with leaving a set of instructions on how to use this thing!?"

The totodile should have figured that pokemon wouldn't consider the ease of usability for first time users. Probably just focusing on the functionality of it and getting from one place to another. And for that to work, a lot of cards were made of various designs—a lot. 

'Who the hell would remember any of these combinations? This is not Yugioh where I need a deck between forty and sixty!' Joe growled. He didn't have time for this. 

"Heh-heh-heh. Found you." 

Joe looked up and rolled his eyes at who it was. He didn't really like dealing with annoying guests at the moment, especially a flying pink floral ball. "Thanks for announcing yourself and giving up the surprise attack advantage." 

Munna's expression immediately turned into a scowl at the totodile. "You are probably one of the most insufferable humans that I've to deal with thus far." She tsked, sending a telepathic message to her allies, then continuing charging forward. "I heard your muttering. If you wanted a way home, then you should have accepted my offer! Foolish human!" She gathered whatever remainder of her power that she had left for a final Psywave attack that would surely defeat the totodile that dared to oppose Kyurem. 

Then she realized she was frozen. Her body is struggling to make a bit of movement. 

"Wha-?"

Fortunately, Joe saw it coming from a mile away and stomped on one of the orbs right next to him. "Oh! Petrify orb! That would have been helpful for the monster house a couple of floors back." 

Munna struggled to break out of the effects. "Release me!" 

"Yeahhhhhh," he drawled out, "How about no. I'm not going to take orders from somebody who ambushed and tried to murder me earlier with her gang and all." Joe slotted in another card in the panel. 

"We weren't going to murder you! Just remove your existence from this world and no longer interfere with Kyurem's plans in ending this world where only the honest suffer." 

"Wow, aren't you fun at parties. Oh- Here we go!" 

Joe placed the panel on the ground and back away as soon as he saw red wisps of light be drawn into it. 

Both he and Munna had to close their eyes as the light got brighter and flashed for a moment, blinding them both for a brief moment until it died down. Still, they had to squint their eyes from the light gathering in one spot and whirlwind soon after. Red sigils came out from the pillar of light and started encircling it. The ground gave one last final rumble. It was finished, a magnagate had opened. 

Or that's what Joe thinks happened. He scratched his cheek and inspected the swirling platform. It looks like the same one that Hydreigon did, and it's functioning, to say the least. 

"A magnagate in here? Are you mad!? The ever-changing structure of the dungeon won't let you out of here alive through one of those. The ley lines aren't stable here. It's complete suicide!" At the sight of the portal, Munna relayed another message to those close about the current situation. 

The totodile pondered on the Psychic-type's words for a bit but only for a second at best. It's not like there are any better decisions at the moment in his current situation. Either take his own life at his own risk or get killed by a rampaging Kyurem for applying common sense and logic to show how stupid its plan is.

Tough choice. He's not going to lie there. 

Though first things first. 

"Sorry, not sorry," Joe said, as he grabbed a few seeds from his arsenals. He also broke another one of his orbs for good measures to trap Munna longer. 

She continued to struggle nonetheless to break free from the item's effect. "What are you going to do?" Munna asked, frowning at him. 

"Leave no witnesses. Also, payback." His claws glowed silver once again. 

Munna stared blankly at him until it settled in what the totodile meant. 

'S.O.-!" Her emergency signal was cut off as pain registered in the forefront of her mind. The swift strike sent her back a little with the amount of force behind it, yet it wasn't enough to knock her out quickly. 

Joe snarled at his hands as he barely felt any power behind the attack as the silver shine died out in the middle of it. "You got to be fucking kidding. I ran out of uses!?" 

"HA! Even the most basic of pokemon know to conserve move usage." 

He growled and stomped on the Psychic-type, making the pokemon cry out in pain and allowing him to throw the seeds in her opening mouth. 

Munna didn't get time to recognize what was given to her as an explosion ignited inside her and caused a chain reaction in triggering the other seeds inside her. Various status effects and debuffs are applying to her all at once. Munna felt the room spin despite her being still. 

Seeing that Munna was no longer fit for battle or able to pursue him through the gate, Joe nodded to himself and left it at that. "Nice to know there was a blast seed among the bunch to do the job." He turned on the heel of his foot, satisfied. 

"YOU!"

Joe didn't think of turning his head to see who it was. He knows who that is. Nor did he get the chance as a stream of hot draconic energy shot at his back, making him tumble on the ground from the surprise attack. 

He hissed at the stinging, burning pain that spread over his back. Despite that, the totodile scrambled to get back on his feet quickly. Kyurem rapidly approached.

The legendary didn't seem at all happy to see him. It was probably because there was a beaten up minion currently high on seeds lying at the room entrance. 

"Even now, you still are a mere leaf in the fighting against the opposing wind that is greater than you! 

'Oh, great. I do miss your metaphors from earlier.' Joe thought. He would roll his eyes if he could. His primary focus right now is getting the hell away and reaching the magnagate. 

The looming ice dragon that was making its way towards him is something he would rather avoid in his present condition. 

With his exhausted state making it hard to get up, Joe did the next best thing. He laid flat against the floor, and arms pressed to his body and tail took, and rolled as his life depended on it. 

Kyurem's eyes widen at the blatant defiance and mockery. "You won't escape me! I will protect the future!" he growled, taking off with Fly, setting his sights on the reptile. 

"Your plan is stupid!" Joe shouted back mid barrel roll. 

Usually, Joe would fear for his life here, considering one attack is enough to take away any remaining health he has left and let it be practically game over for him. And he doubts Kyurem is going to be merciful and let him return to the human world as initially offered with the number of times he made the dragon sound like an idiot. 

Good thing this dead-end of a room is small. 

His little totodile roll was more than enough to get him inside the portal's range. "Peace!" He signed out, reaching inside the reg sigil for it to recognize his command. 

"NO!" Kyurem dive-bombed onto where the totodile laid. 

It was already too late. Joe's no longer there and being taken away by the trail that formed with his entercard combination. 

That didn't deter the ice dragon, though. Kyurem knew that a magnagate still took time to close after it was used. He could see the light dying down fast and the whirlwind signaling its closing. There's still time left to do one last thing. 

"If I can't crush you, then I'll make sure you will never get out!" 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I'm not feeling any pain here, so that's a good sign. I think." 

Then again, he's feeling anything at the moment either. When he tried to move an arm or leg, he couldn't feel any of his limbs at all. 

Joe knew that there's not much you can do when transporting through magnagate considering his first time, but this is taking too long. 

'Did I pick a far destination with my combination? I was going at random there.' He thought while waiting in this eternal hell of a rainbow-colored gate till he gets dropped off somewhere. 

Also, the sparkles of light shooting past him. So he has an idea that he's going somewhere, hopefully. 

Honestly, he feels like he's going to throw up rainbows at this point. He wasn't this aware when traveling inside a magnagate last time, and this is making him motion sick from just looking around. 

"If Kyurem didn't kill me, then the boredom might beat him to the punch." 

"Oh my. Now, how do you get yourself in this predicament?" 

Joe hastily looks around to see where that voice was coming from. He wasn't alone here, after all, yet, there doesn't seem to be anywhere the owner can be. It sounded really close to him, except there was nobody in sight. Telepathy maybe? He still speculated you need to be in range for that to work. 

There was a scoff. "Close, but no cigar. Anyways, you should be more concerned about your own position here than trying to find me." 

"What do you mean?" Joe asked, frowning at that. "I made it out alive with my head still attached, so what's there to worry- Kyurem." He knew it felt too easy back there when he escaped. 

"Indeed," the voice agreed. "It looks like the leylines connected to your destination got cut off, or should I say frozen, while you were in the middle of being transported." She guessed. Joe thought it was a female since it sounded pretty feminine. "This is actually quite the mess of alignments going on here as well. They are all over the place. What were you exactly doing before coming into the magnagate exactly?"

The totodile didn't exactly feel comfortable sharing too much, but it's not like he's got much of a choice here.

"Open a magnagate inside a dungeon." Munna did shout how idiotic he was opening one.

She tsk. "There's the source. Well, one of them. Honestly, you should know better using entercards inside a dungeon. It's one thing to open a gate at the final room of a dungeon or the entrance, but inside messes up the flow of the leylines with how unstable it is." 

"Alright." Joe nodded. He knows he fucked up now, and dying from boredom is actually becoming a possible reality for him. "Is there any way I can get out?" 

"If you are lucky and this was a normal circumstance, you would just be dropped off in the middle of the transportation somewhere random. But this is not that." 

From the sounds of it, he's basically in limbo. Stuck in the in-between because of a petty ice dragon. 

"Unless...."

Joe snapped out his thoughts. "Unless?" he asked back. "I'm willing to try anything as long as it's not something sketchy or a deal with the devil here. I kind of had a taste of that already." The totodile was thinking of a certain hydreigon right there. 

"Unless I fix the back end of your magnagate. The front end where you used the magnagate is already used up, and you are here. However, a destination can still be fixed to go to." 

Joe widely smiled at that. There is hope left for him to live after all! 

"But I won't do this for free." 

Then said hope got completely stepped on. "You got me by the balls here, so state your offer," he said. If he had his arms, they would be folded right now, and he would have a pretty defeated look on his face. But he had no body, could still scream though.

"Entertain me," she proposed. 

"I'm sorry, but I'm into dudes." Joe is willing to do many questionable things to save himself, but being straight is not one of them.

Joe yelped and tried to grab his head, if he could, when he felt a hand hitting him in the figurative snout.

"Not that kind of entertainment, you cretin!" She went for another backhand and succeeded in getting another hit in. "My price is entertainment. I'll admit you have proved somewhat enjoyable to watch, and I want that to continue. Boredom is a disease for someone like myself." 

"Wait, if you were watching me already, then why did I need to explain that anything to you?" 

"To get a better understanding, of course. I'm not omniscient." Stating like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "But back to the offer. If you are not interested, then I guess I can throw in a bonus..." She lingered the last word to put more emphasis on it. 

Joe just blinked blankly. There's obviously more to this than meets the since no one is this generous. He's in no place to refuse whatsoever if what this entity says is right about the gate. 

"Fine. You got yourself a deal," Joe sighed. "I'll entertain you or whatever, just fill out your side of the bargain and let me out." 

"Pleasure doing business with you. Give me a moment while I get things sorted." Thinking with portals is a lot of work, so this required most of her attention. "You know, usually a questionnaire is given to people like you to determine which pokemon suits your stay in this world during this part of the transportation, but it looks like you got it figured out." 

"Wait," Joe paused. Did she just tell him the pokemon quiz was a part of this. Is he in the character selection part of the game? No wonder this place looked familiar now! "Shit. Can I be a charmander instead?" 

"No." She denied him. There were enough Charmander protagonists as is in her books. "That would just make everything dull and expected. I want entertainment, not a snooze fest." 

Joe sneered at her. She immediately figured out his plans on speedrunning to get this done and over with. There go his chances of coming back home as soon as possible. Then again, nothing before quite lined up to the storyline he was used to. 

"Done." 

The sparks of light and the rainbow tunnel stopped for a moment. Joe started to worry that something messed up here and scratched his head. Wait, scratch? 

"Oh! I have my body back!" He shouted excitedly—his cute totodile self back in the physical realm and not an abstract being doomed in limbo. Soon after, he remembered he was a pokemon, so that died out fast. "Damn pokemon world." 

"Quite, now do show me a story worth watching. You are coming in a bit late, so get moving." 

Joe was about to speak, but everything started moving once again, and he was flung incredibly fast through the tunnel with the white ball of light at the end growing bigger by the second. He closed his eyes, waiting for it to die out. 

When he opened them, the last thing he saw was a sea of clouds and an opening that he was shot through.


	2. Returning to Primary School (Still not a Kid)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, everyone! Looks like I was able to get another chapter out this week. Though I’m afraid with my semester starting next week, the updates will be slow from here. 
> 
> I would like to thank you all for coming back for more Joe content. 
> 
> Team Ion was a big help here getting the chapter edited and done fast. So check them out if you haven’t!

It was sure nice to see the world again after being stuck in that magnagate for some time. Joe hadn’t really gotten a chance to explore the place like the video game protagonist since Hydreigon was very pressed for time and sent him off to go save the world via skipping to the story's second big boss battle.

Not that Joe really knew that.

He knew he dodged a bullet there, but now in line for another shot to hit him. Oh well, it sure beats dying at the frosty feet of Kyurem, and this time he actually had the chance to live a little as a pokemon.

At least, that's what he hopes for because right now, he's plunging to his death. That’s a problem.

"You couldn't place me on the ground!?" Joe screamed as he fell through a cloud, leaving a totodile shaped hole behind. 

The ground was getting closer by the second and last he checked; those were pretty solid and hurt to land on. He was starting to see the drawbacks of his original idea of jumping out of Glacier Palace now. 

Joe prayed that he had some level of Team Rocket durability to survive crash landing from the atmosphere. He's a pokemon; he should be durable, right? He should be able to walk off this alive if those physics from the anime apply here. 

"Wait, but I'm in a video game... fuck." The totodile just had to remind himself of that one simple fact. 

He steeled himself and tried to stop screaming his lungs out for the duration of the fall. He had to think to find a way out of this one or that deal with the devil is going to waste and be all for nothing. And Joe doesn't really want to know what are the technicalities to the contract if he dies early... again. 

The totodile looked around to see if there was anything that could be of any help here. Though resources are vastly limited when you are in the sky. Well, there's always the idea of trying to find a Flying-type pokemon closeby and setting his sights on that to crash into.

Either the pokemon would be strong enough to keep them both up, or the totodile could always use it as a landing cushion. 

Too bad there seemed to be none.

"What the hell!? The one time where I want stupid birds to randomly spawn in front of me. They really give false publicity on finding those damn birds in the games!" he growled out. There goes his first idea, so what else is there instead of accepting that this is his life now.

Then collided with his head.

He cried out in pain and was ready to give whatever it was a new one for spiting him now of all times. His eyes landed on a small blue orb that was falling with him. "An orb? Up here? How the-" Joe rubbed the bump on his head and looked up to see his possible get out death free card right above him. "That's my bag!" 

It might be small to the human eye with it being far above him, but he can tell it's his grey satchel bag with it against the blue sky. "Great. She fixed my trash eyesight but not my survival chances."

The totodile speculated it must have gotten in range of the magnagate and gotten teleported with him. That would make sense if it came out of the same exit he went out of, too. 

Seeing this, Joe grabbed some of the scarfs on his body and stretched them out to get more wind resistance to slow down his fall compared to the bag above. It worked for the most part as his satchel was now coming down faster than him and within his reach. 

"Gotcha!" He riffled through the bag to find anything that could help him. "C'mon! C'mon! C'mon!" Except there was nothing in the main pocket. "Why is it empty!? It was full last-" Joe remembered he dumped out the contents on the floor earlier. "Fuck it! Side pocket!"

That's where he kept the more valuable items from his dungeon runs. It must have been where the orb slipped out of. It took trial and error to figure out what each one does and tell the difference from the rest of the things that look just like it that he came across, but he did it for emergencies like these.

"Ah-ha! I knew I had one left!" In his hand was a reviver seed. The fact it worked exactly like it did in the game is a lifesaver, even if he doesn't quite understand why exactly. With this, his survival is ensured. "Alright, now to get this over with." 

He looked down to find a nice landing spot. It was just a whole bunch of forest and mountains for the most part—also, a pokemon village, which will be useful later than now. Besides that, nothing that can prevent him from having a painful experience soon...

Then the sound of rushing water and its crashing reached his ears as he got lower to the ground. Joe immediately searched for it and spotted a waterfall on a cliffside, leading into a small lake. Perfect. Water would still hurt, but he was a Water-type, so he shouldn’t drown afterward.

He popped the seed into his mouth but didn't swallow it yet, and wrapped the shoulder strap of his bag around him. "Just have to ignore the rocks." The totodile dive-bombed straight for the lake, using the scarfs to better maneuver himself and slow down a bit. 

But now that Joe got a better look at it, another question came to mind. _'Actually, is it deep eno-?'_ His thoughts got interrupted as he came across some turbulence in the form of a strong gust of winds, and his scarves were caught up in it. "Oh, you got to be kidding me." 

It wasn't enough to ruin his aim for the lake but bring him back in a free-fall position as he got closer to the water. 

_SMACK_

Joe bit into his seed at the moment of impact to secure his survival, except it did nothing to dull out the pain. 

"AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!" 

Pokemon in the nearby Serene Village wondered whatever that terrible noise was. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Joe muttered a string of curses as he limped down the path, hopefully leading to the village he saw earlier.

His underbelly is now a very bright and noticeable red because of his landing becoming a belly flop at the last second. Just moving made it sting like mad, and the totodile had to dive in the lake a few times to collect the stuff that sunk with him, so that was fun. 

Now to just make the journey and get this show on the road. 

"That's right. This leads to a dungeon," he said to himself as he looked further down the road to see the trees getting thicker and overhanging, blocking most of the sunlight from reaching the ground.

Well, it's not like he has beheeyem chasing him down, so he's not pressed on escaping or anything. Really there shouldn't be anything to be worried about since Open Pass is meant to be the starter dungeon for the player.

Joe let out a laugh at the thought since he was thrown in the fire in comparison.

The totodile pressed onward into the thickening woods. The forest around him quickly warping into the mystery dungeon he expected it to. Vegetation and trees soon becoming walls that he wouldn't be able to pass through as it fully enclosed him.

"And we are here." He quickly learned that mystery dungeons were basically like their in-game counterparts, depending on what it is.

Stairs are still a staple if the place had multiple floors to travel between, like Glacier Palace, for example, and came in the form of slippery slopes sometimes.

However, this is the first time he ever entered the forest or flat area dungeon. It probably only covered the area for the most part and had multiple exits to come out of.

As long as he kept track of the general direction of where Serene Village is, then this shouldn't be any problem and a relatively short walk. 

If it weren't for the pokemon.

"Fucking Grass-types!" He cursed out and slammed his bag on top of a foongus that dared attack him with Absorb, one-shotting the annoying mushroom into the ground. "Now of all times to remember type advantages exist."

Not even a few minutes in, and he was already being surprise attacked by the pokemon inside. 

Joe might be at a higher level than the ferals living inside the place, but it didn't mean the little demons can't hurt him, especially in his tired state.

He hard patted his bag on the ground to get rid of the spores that the foongus left on it. Status ailments were not something he wanted to deal with anytime soon, considering his luck. 

Unfortunately, paras were running around the place, and they were just dangerous. 

"Stop moving, you little shit!"

It snipped its claws at him menacingly as it scurried around, dodging his swipes thanks to its small size.

The feral returned with an attack of its own and let out a cloud of yellow, sparkling powder from the mushroom on its back. 

Seeing this, Joe reeled back, holding his breath, and high-tailed it out of there as fast as his small legs could. 

"Stun Spore!?" he shouted to himself, taking a breath of fresh air as he entered the next room. "It knows it that early!?"

Even if Joe could one-shot the ferals with a simple Scratch attack at this point, there's nothing in his bag that could heal him from something like paralysis. He doubts the effects will fade anytime soon, either. For an introductory dungeon, this place was proving to be annoying as much as the rest of the world, going by his experiences.

And these little bastards barely offer any experience points if it's this easy to kill them, not worth it since they are so abundant too! His EVs are going to be all over the place once he gets out of here if stats are anything like the mainline games. Or if they even exist as he knew them.

At least, there is some bright side to all this. The items he found on the floor throughout the dungeon were helping him restock his supplies. A good amount of food such as apples and berries, which makes sense to appear here since this is a forest, but how they ended up here in the first place is still a question on his mind.

He held an apple. There aren't any fruit trees that he could see, and it can't just have gotten here by itself. It reminded him of the Glacier Palace, with how items are lying everywhere for anyone to come across.

Could a dungeon really spawn this stuff, to begin with? Joe could see it make sense in the game since that's how the players obtain items, but when he's physically here, those kinds of rules don't exactly translate.

It's just weird. There had to be a reason for this. Heck, the elixir he was currently drinking was in a plastic bottle. Joe is pretty damn sure that pokemon haven't discovered the process to make plastic, but here it is in all its glory. How a forest got its hands on it, who knows?

"Just another thing to chalk under the holes of this world," he said and stored the drink back into his bag, eyes falling on something glinting.

Now, there is one thing he doesn't mind seeing in a dungeon, though. 

"Money!" His eyes zeroed on the golden coins glittering under the sunlight. It's most likely a trick to lure him in a false sense of security, but if he was a sucker for anything, then it would be cold hard cash. 

He scurried into the room to go and collect it before anyone else could. However, the world is always cruel to him. The moment he entered was also when the poke started to float into the air. 

Sure enough, a group of woobat were in the room with him and lying in wait, using Confusion to lift the money out of his reach. The trio of bats laughed at him while doing so

He growled at them. "Hey, you rat with wings, that's mine!" Joe grabbed a seed from his bag and hurled it at the woobat.

Though, that turned on him as one of its allies caught it within a Confusion of their own, tossing it right back at the totodile.

“Aw shit.” 

Joe ducked for cover as the blast seed detonated on the spot where he stood a moment ago.

"Alright, so that's how you want to play it, huh?" His claws were covered in the familiar glow of Metal Claw. "Well, this means war, bastards!" No one got between him and easy money and kept all their teeth.

The woobat looked at each other and chittered in their native tongue before turning back to him. Their eyes glowed in a light blue, more items came out of the woodworks and floated right beside them. 

Apparently, Joe wasn't the only one collecting items because the amount the three woobats had looked like it could arm an entire guild. Seeds, orbs, and sticks, which the totodile thought were wands, are all pointing right at him. Even the poke was being used against him.

"Fuck me..."

Everything soon became a bullet hell as everything rained down upon him.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trying to punch a Flying-type, not his best moment, Joe would admit that. His greed had gotten the best of him once again. Those woobat were oddly prepared to fight him as they had their own items on them and ready to use.

Their mistake was when one of them used a switcher wand and hit him with the projectile spell. Them most likely didn't know what kind of effect it had until it was too late, and all four of them switched positions. So instead of the items raining on him back there, it was now falling on the three woobat.

All that was left now is scorched up grass and three fainted bat ferals in the room now. 

Not a single poke left for him in the aftermath of the destruction.

"What a waste of time," Joe grunted as he traveled up the hill with a single lone tree on top, using the switcher wand as a cane to help keep him steady as he walked.

Overlooking the hill, Joe finally spotted Serene Village coming into view. It's not exactly a one on one representation of what he remembers from the game, which became more apparent as soon as he entered its boundaries.

It was definitely a lot bigger than he pictured it—plenty of houses along the path to the commercial hub of activity. Which made sense. Properly representing the amount of pokemon that lived here, unlike the game did.

Good thing that the partner's house stands out from the rest with the blue roofing. 

_'And the Super protag being their next-door neighbor.'_ Joe mused as he crossed the bridge, keeping his eyes on the settlement on top of the cliff above. _'I really am here. In the story of Super Mystery Dungeon. Damn, how much did I miss?'_ Joe gripped the sash of his satchel tighter as he continued.

Luckily the more recognizable buildings are still more or less the same as he entered the plaza.

The pokemon here are a lot more sane and normal as he expected compared to the psychotic bunch he had to deal with earlier. Munna was far behind him now.

Though, he could do without all the eyes staring at him as he walked past them.

 _'Just ignore them.'_ Joe told himself and pushed the doors open to Café Connection. If he needed information, then this would be the place for locals and visitors to intermingle.

"Hi, there! Welco- what happened to you!?" Kangaskhan gasped, putting away the cup she was cleaning in favor of fretting over the small Water-type. The kid in her pouch also looked at him curiously.

Joe pulled up a seat from underneath the bar counter. "Let's just say I didn't exactly stick the landing at the lake." His red underbelly still hadn't faded away from earlier.

She tsk and shook her head. "Belly flops. Kids these days. This is what happens when you decide to skip school to go have fun instead. Now, do you need anything to help with that?"

Joe's eye twitched at the remark. "Nah, it will go away on its own. Also, not a kid." He pointed that out to her, which got him a dubious look in return. "I just came in to get a meal and probably catch up on what's been happening. I'm new here, you see."

"Oh, so you are another pokemon moving into Serene Village," She deduced. "You wouldn't be the first new resident as of late. Here you go, hon." Kangaskhan placed a cup of water and a plate of chopped berries for him. 

He sagged a little at the sight of more fruit, but beggars can't be choosers. "So, I'm not the only new guy around here then." 

"Correct. I got some new neighborhoods a couple of weeks ago. I can say for sure that Cyndaquil is having fun with his new classmate if the amount of mischief he's causing is anything." She smiled.

 _'The partner sounds exactly like they did in the story.'_ He took a swig from his drink. _'The protagonist should either be a starter, riolu, or pikachu when I see em.'_ He wonders if the Voice of Life was generic and gave them the aura pokemon or charmander. 

"Really? Cyndaquil can't be all that bad, can he?" Joe lied through his teeth while munching on the fruit slices. The partner is all that bad, from being a selfish asshole and dragging everyone with them to the bottom of hell or doing something completely stupid to make the situation worst. There had been many times in the game where he would have liked to leave his partner behind.

"You don't even know the half of it," she sighed and took away the empty dish. "Hold on a moment, dear." Kangaskhan moved down the counter to greet her other customer that came in. "Good afternoon, Officer Magnezone. Anything going on in your day, or are things starting to lighten up?"

Joe froze at the pokemon’s name. _'The fucking cop is here now of all times!?'_

"BZZT! Hello to you too, Kangaskhan. Nothing seems to be out of order the past days on patrol. Our local troublemaker hasn't caused any ruckus, which is rather unusual. BZZT!"

"He seems to have his mind focus on other things as of late. I might have to ask the little guy or Carracosta if anything is wrong," she considered.

"BZZT! No need. Less trouble with the town folk means less time I have to deal with capturing the little one. BZZT!" Magnezone shifted his attention to the totodile sitting away from him. "BZZT! A child? Here? School isn't over yet. And why is he... red?" He inspected closer. "BZZT!"

The cup in Joe's hand cracked under the strength of his grip. 

"Accident playing on the water," She answered, but then her eyes brightened up at the police officer. "Oh, that reminds me! You couldn't have come at a better time, Magnezone, because we got a new resident here." Gestured towards the totodile, who was now sweating bullets. "This new student here needs escorting. Catch my drift?" Kangaskhan winked, and the pokemon understood. 

"BZZT! No problem! School should still be going on, and I'm sure he will be able to make it. BZZT!"

 _'Nope.'_ Joe hopped out of his seat, grabbed a handful of poke from his bag, and placed it on the counter. He had enough of elementary school and snot nose brats in his life. "Well, it was nice knowing you all, but I think I should be going...."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, young mon. Playing Hookie is against the law.” Kangaskhan wagged her finger at him. The child in her pouch copied the action. “We can't have kids like you running around and ditching class."

"I told you I'm not a kid!" How many times did he need to say that for it to get through their heads?

"BZZT! That's what they all say. BZZT!" Magnezone leered down at him. "BZZT! Come without much of a fuss, and we will be there before classes are done. BZZT!"

Joe scoffed at the floating magnet. "Come quietly? Sorry, but I got better things to do than stick around in school."

"BZZT! Magnemite! Magneton! We got a runner! BZZT!"

The pre-evolutions of the Magnezone appeared in front of the doorway, blocking Joe's path. 

"BZZT! Finally, I get to shoot someone today! BZZT!" 

"You gotta be shitting me!?" 

"Language!" Kangaskhan scolded.

He was surrounded by cops, and the magnemite looked especially trigger happy with the electricity coming off the magnets. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"That was Officer Magnezone and his team, right? What are they doing here? We already learned about Alliances in class yesterday." 

"You think we are going to a review lesson? VP Watchog was kind of out near the end there, so we didn't get to try it out as much." 

"Don't get your hopes up, Pancham. Ms. Audino was called up, too, by Principal Simipour. I doubt we will be using moves in class again." 

It was because their next period teacher is away, they got their recess extended a bit. 

The classmates watched the officers leave the school grounds after visiting Simipour's office, giving a small wave as they went. Magnemite looked especially happy. Still, they didn’t see the scorched, blue reptile that was being dragged up with them earlier. They wondered what happened to that guy to get hurt that badly. 

"Sorry for the hold-up, class," Audino apologized, coming down the stairs. "Had to help bandage a few things before you get to meet your new classmate." 

Now that caused another round of questions. Another new student this month? Their eyes were drawn to Liam, the chespin, sitting in the front row of the class. Even he was aware of getting another classmate so soon back to back like this was odd.

"Come on out, now. Don't be shy, Totodile. We are all friends here, so no one is going to bite you." Audino called out, waving a hand to where the Water-type was hiding from view.

Joe took a poke his head out of the nurse's office before diving back in to cover. He already spotted the town's infamous Cyndaquil, so that leaves the Chespin next to him the Super protagonist. However, he's worried about something else more.

 _'Great. Kids and socializing. My two weak points.'_ Both being things that he rather avoids for the life of him. Joe took a deep breath and mentally prepared himself as he walked out but bumped into someone instead.

"Hahahahahaha!" The Fire-Mouse Pokemon picked himself up. "Sorry about that! I guess I got ahead of myself there and crashed into you. And you already looked like you picked a fight and lost. Here let me help you up." 

Joe had to crush the urge to insult Cyndaquil back, deciding to take the pokemon's paw instead. "Thanks."

"Honestly, that guy is going to ruin all of the new kids joining our class at this rate," Pancham said. 

"Cyndaquil, I don't remember giving you permission to be out of your seat." 

"Hah... Sorry, Ms. Audino." Cyndaquil slumped and returned to his desk. 

Audino had a smile on as she shook her head. "Now, where was I... That's right. Totodile, do you mind introducing yourself?" 

_'YES,'_ Joe wanted to say but kept his mouth shut. He needed to look friendly here and not draw suspicion. "Yo. I'm new to town, and everyone here keeps treating me like a kid, so here I am." 

"You get used to it." Chespin already had a defeated look and gave a pitiful smile. He has truly given up correcting everyone. 

Joe was starting to feel for the poor guy because this will be a habit sooner or less. It was something at least that he wasn’t the only one who was being treated like a kid. Misery loves company, after all.

"He got a little banged up on the way here, so treat him nicely, everybody, and hold your questions for after school." She told the class. "There's an open seat next to Espurr or Shelmet in the back, Totodile. Take your pick, and we can get ahead with today's lesson." 

Seeing his options, Joe picked to sit next to the only intelligent pokemon in the class. 

"All right, children!" Audino clapped her hands to get their attention. "It's time for health class, and we'll be learning more about moves and abilities today. It's important to know your limits and strengths here when going out exploring." 

"Eh, but don't we already know about that stuff?" Cyndaquil asked. "We've been doing field trips to the school dungeon and been doing pretty good if I do say so myself." 

"Says the guy who wasted all of his moves exploring Glittering Mountain." 

"Clearing out rooms is part of the adventure!" 

"So is finishing the dungeon!"

"Boys! Boys!" Both Pancham and Cyndaquil quickly shut up after seeing the frown Audino was giving them. "While I understand the fun and job of completing the dungeon, please don't argue about what's done already." 

"Glittering Mountain?" Joe asked. 

"You weren't here for it, so don't worry about it all too much," Espurr explained. "Those two are just mad with the extra assignments they have." 

"Ah." That would explain it. Joe remembered those two always fighting, so it was hard to tell if a chapter event happened or not without him.

Audino nodded. "Yes, however, Cyndaquil has raised a very important lesson to be learned here." 

"Ha!" 

"Managing your energy and moves is vital for exploring dungeons," Audino finished. 

"Ha!" Pancham shouted back to the troublemaker. 

"Settle down, you two. This applies to everyone, not just Cyndaquil. The moves you all know right now have a limit to them and can only be used a certain amount of times." 

_'Oh, she is explaining the power points to these guys.'_ Joe thought back to how his own Metal Claw stopped working for a while until he got an elixir to fix that.

"Question, Deerling?" Audino pointed her out. 

"How are we able to use multiple moves then? I can use Double Kick a lot more than Synthesis, but if it's coming from the same source, then how does it not get exhausted too?"

"That's because the power inside you can only transform into your move before it becomes challenging. If an attack is simple to call out, like tackle, there are many more uses to it. The same can be said about the opposite. Complicated and high-level moves require more energy so have a smaller number." She told Deerling. "That's not even going to status moves that are unique in their own right. So, it's best to diversify your move set."

"Makes sense when put it like that," Chespin nodded. "Having only strong attacks will run out quicker in dungeons that are big in the first place."

"I guess since we never run into that problem a lot that we really didn't think about it," Shelmet added. "Looks like Cyndaquil is useful after all, even if he is annoying." 

"Hey!" 

Audino just looked at her students with a smile before noticing another hand up. "Totodile, you have something to ask?" 

"How long does it take to usually learn a new move?" Joe asked. So far, he only has been relying on two attacks to get him through. Metal Claw and Scratch. Those came naturally to him in the beginning, but something as basic as Water Gun given to Water-type starters off the bat missed him for some reason. 

"Oh, that usually comes as you get older," Audino explained. "Different pokemon are experienced in different things, so it may take some time for your energy to discover a new move to learn. There are tutors, and technical machines around that can help accelerate the process, however. But you are all kids now, so it's nothing to be too concerned about." 

_'Well, ain't that swell.'_ Joe deflated a bit. He's practically an adult now, being nineteen and all, so does that mean he missed his chance already to learn attacks on his own? That would mean he has to rely on others for help... if he can convince them that is. 

The sound of wood clunking together was heard. 

"Shoot. That's the bell. I guess recess went longer than it should." Audino scratched the back of her head. "We will pick up on this next time, so keep in mind what I said for later. Take care and class dismiss!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That’s it for now! We will move forward into the story from here with Joe figuring it out as things go. 
> 
> I don’t plan on sticking around in Serene Village as much as the game did. That super long multi-chapter introduction for you to get used to the game? Yeah, none of that. 
> 
> Joe knows what to do, thank you very much. Though, the Super protagonist and partner might be worth investigating… 
> 
> See you all next time!


End file.
